5 Reasons to Automate Offline IT Asset Management When You Can

5 Reasons to Automate Offline IT Asset Management When You Can

By Michael

June 30, 2015

There are a few key mistakes that can seriously sink a company charged with archiving offline IT assets. First and foremost, a disorganized system of tracking and verification can contribute to hampered workflow around the office. Even worse, these potential compliance infractions could put the fate of the entire company at risk. Such problems also stress the need for companies to take processes like offline IT asset management very seriously. Improving processes is critical for long-term success, and the following tips explain why automation is the right way to go about it.

1. Refining the process reveals vulnerabilities
One of the best reasons to take another look at your offline IT asset management strategy is so that you can discover its vulnerabilities. Better to find and fix slowdowns in communication or potential technology issues before your process begins showing signs of a problem.

The best way to find vulnerabilities is to perform test runs and see where your planned solutions underperform. Be sure to have members of your IT flag where problems arise and prioritize these productivity bottlenecks for the next round of maintenance. If you’re looking to automate your process, you’ll have to take a closer look at your current strengths and weaknesses one way or another. Inc recommended that IT teams use ROI as a means of weighting which vulnerabilities to target first.

2. Predictability breeds productivity
Repeatability is one of the most important perks that automating IT asset management brings to the table. By contrast, a disorganized approach to verifying ownership or tracking custody will result in slower results and possibly put the company in greater financial risk. Employees are better able to buckle down and complete processes if they have a good idea of what to expect. Committing to a consistent plan for monitoring and archiving offline IT assets becomes easier when the members of your staff have a repeatable plan to fall back on.

3. Streamlining enhances the customer experience
CIO Insight pointed out that customer satisfaction is another important benefit of automating offline IT asset management. After all, the need to save information to backup tape is often driven by customer demands for obscure pieces of data at unexpected intervals. That means that an entire relationship between your company and client could be defined by a surprise request for archived information. You could create additional business for the company by providing rapid service to customers. One of the easiest ways to make a good impression is to wow customers with your rapid, automated asset management strategy.

4. Accountability is key to compliance
Automating IT asset management also has the added perk of providing an extra layer of accountability to your business. Many automation systems use time stamps or other tracking methods to determine where assets are in the system and who is currently responsible for it. This internal source of accountability encourages employees to keep focused on their daily work and also provides managers with another means of measuring productivity. According to Inc., documenting this process can help smoothen your IT team’s transition into a new system of keeping employees accountable.

5. Everyone benefits when human error is reduced
The true beauty of automating work processes is the ability to eliminate human errors from the system altogether. Employees are bound to get tired or hungry at work and make a mistake sooner or later, and these mistakes can come with financial consequences. It’s best to integrate automation at as many levels as possible. For example, software solutions like AssetAware are designed to simplify the process of tracking and highlighting offline IT assets like backup tapes.